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TLC Workshop: Organizing Your Life into a Memoir

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Today we are geting ready for a Saturday afternoon workshop at The Literary Center in San Juan Bautista, CA: Organizing Your Life into Memoir. Many great memoirs never get written because potential authors do not know where to start or where to stop. How to turn your life into story, or how to tell the story of your life, requires understanding "what is story" and "how is it organized." These are the topics that get explored during this workshop. Workshop slides are available for $5 at the MSI webstore -- and they come with the opportunity to ask virtual questions.

Authors in the News: Pat Young Featured in Volusia News

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Congratulations to Pat Young, co-author with Joanna Romer of Life after Losing a Child , for the front-page article on their book in the Volusia News (Daytona Beach, Florida). Pat was interviewed earlier by MSI Blog. Check out her interview to learn more about her. Pat and Joanna's book is available in the MSI Press webstore; use FF25 for 25% dsicount. Click here to get to the book fast.  The book also available at all online retailers and some brick-and-mortar stores. A reasonable number of free review copies can be made available in exchange for writing and posting reviews. Contact editor@msipress.com to express your interest. Truly a helpful book for anyone who has experienced the tragedy of losing a child.

Widows and Widowers: A Special Contribution by Joanna Romer

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MSI Press Author Joanna Romer has made a unique contribution to the bereavement literature. Interviewing widows and widowers, she has written three books: The Widower's Guide to a New Life . A Book of the Year finalist and receiver of fine reviews. Click on the title to learn more and to access reviews at Library Journey, Foreword Reviews, MidWest Book Review, US Review of Books, Library Thing... Widow: A Surival Guide for the First Year . Click on the lin https://msipressblog.blogspot.com/search?q=bereavement k to read reviews such as those at Midwest Book Review, Goodreads, and US Review of Books. Wudiw: How to Survive -- and Thrive! -- in Your 2d, 3rd, and 4th Years . Click on the link to read more about this book. See more of Joanna's books HERE . Read more about Joanna and her work HERE . See more works on bereavement and grief HERE .

Grandma's Ninja Warrior Diary: Surprises from a Rock Climbing Class

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Pacific Edge Gym Teaching Room In accordance with my planned approach to developing ninja capabilities, two weeks ago I enrolled in a rock climbing class. One of the things I had learned from watching the stories of competitors on American Ninja Warriors included seeing how many of them were either rock climbers or spent time at rock-climbing gyms. Good climbing depends on feet, not arms. In fact, with feet properly placed, one can hang by one arm for a very long time and feel little strain. Shoes should fit snugly and have bottoms that create friction in order to use feet more effectively. The "climber's triange" -- toes and ball of foot -- indicates where a climber should place his ore her weight when climbing. (After scaling the wall in the gym three times, my toes were really sore! I gave them a nice bubbling session in my foot massager afterward.) I thought I would have to build arm and shoulder strength. I never thought I would have to build toe

Finding Joy Half a World Away: Traveling with Chronic Illness (guest post from Joanna Charnas)

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Joanna Charnas, author of Living Well with Chronic Illness and 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Chronic Illness,   at first thought that she culd not travel from San Diego to New Delhi, given her state of chronic illness  So, she turned down multiple invitations from a friend in India to visit. Then, her nephew married a young woman from Delhi, and the compelling desire to see their wedding took over in spite of concerns about the level of medical care available in India, And she found -- joy in the experience. Read about her experience in her post in yoursnews.india: You Will Dance: Finding Joy in an Indian Wedding . Read more posts by and about Joanna Charnas here :

Best-selling MSI Press books

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Here are the current best-selling MSI Press books: Best seller this week Best seller last week Best seller last month Best seller last quarter Best seller 2019 to date

Grandma's Ninja Warrior Diary: The Rotator Cuff Culprit

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So, just when I think my rotator cuff overuse has worn off and I can go back to using it for strenuous activities, I immediately strain it again. Finally, I figured out how! Months ago, I had installed a pull up bar across the bedroom door so that I could try to pull myself up (nope, I cannot do that yet -- you would think after 18 months, it would be easy, but it is still out of reach). Clearly, I need to build stronger should muscles and lose some more weight so I have less to pull. Nonetheless, I try. Finally, after the last complaint from rotator cuff, I put two and two together: it was the frequent trying to lift more than I can that has been straining the rottor cuff. That makes sense since I need 60 pounds of assist on the machine at the gym. That means, I have been asking my rotator cuff to take on those 60 pounds that my shoulder msucles cannot list. Light dawns! So, I am increasing my pushups, my work on the machine with safe assists, the carious shoulder machines -